Professional Ethics
Professional ethics can be defined or explained as a system or code of agreed behavior, relating to the practice of a profession rather than your personal or cultural beliefs about what is right and what is wrong. Ethics will vary in each profession. In Medicine, they will stress the importance of not harming a patient for any reason. This code would not allow a doctor to try a new treatment on patient prior to their consent. It would also ensure that each patient and their family would be treated fairly. Professional ethics are set to also help with malpractice cases. Ethics are not rules; they deal more with morals of a person.
Three major ethical principles for health care professionals are:
1. Health Care is a human right
2. The responsibilities of the healthcare delivery system include the prevention of illness and the alleviation of disability.
3. Cooperation with each other and those served is imperative for those working within the healthcare delivery.
The aim of health care delivery is to maintain and improve health, to alleviate disability, and to provide access to appropriate health services to all persons regardless of their ability to pay. Biological, clinical, and social sciences have the potential to prevent illness as well as to cure it or alleviate suffering. The goal of research must therefore be to prevent illness and reduce disability so effectively that health care can increasingly shift its focus from curing or caring for disease to keeping people healthy. Only with cooperation can healthcare delivery systems produce optimal outcomes and value for individuals and society. Maintaining ethical principles must not be confused with rigidity or defensiveness over roles and actions. On the contrary, knowing the boundaries and respecting the integrity of principles allows individual healthcare workers to move among groups and operate effectively, according to the requirements of various roles. All those involved in...